by Lexy Timms
Okay, maybe not scrambled. Outdoor climbing was a whole lot different from a rock wall at the gym, and he was out of practice. Granted, he’d been trained on rock faces much like this, so it came back, the way the sweat would drip into your eyes, and the way the muscles moved beneath his skin.
How in the world Dani made it look so easy was beyond him. She looked like she was on a jungle gym at recess.
Stop comparing. Focus on what you’re doing. Don’t look down. Don’t stare at her ass. That one he couldn’t help. She had reached the crest of the rock and was scrambling up onto a ledge just above, her long legs spread for purchase, her round ass poised provocatively in midair. Yeah, I’m a lecher. He stared at the rock in front of his face for a moment. It would have been awkward to say the least if he had to climb with an erection. Not to mention painful.
He had to admit, though, she provided a delightful distraction that was successfully keeping him from looking down. Luke was no fan of heights, something that came back to him when he stopped at that same ledge and heaved himself up for a much-needed break. Below, the ground seemed to spin for a moment, giving him a bad case of vertigo that passed as he drank some water and tilted his head back to look up.
Dang, she was fast. And why the hell hadn’t she waited for him to join her?
So far there’d been little conversation. She’d called down a warning a time or two of an obstruction or some piece of advice. Maybe her tone was a bit condescending from time to time. Fine. So she was the rock-climbing goddess of Atlanta, Georgia. She could have the title. Why people did this for fun was entirely beyond him.
Yet the feeling of accomplishment when the top of the rock came within reach was beyond compare. He’d forgotten the adrenaline rush that came from hauling himself over that last barrier. He reached for that last handhold that would put him at the top, thankfully too exhausted to care whether she saw his relief, and whether she would call him on it. Screw it. It had been too long since he’d used those particular muscle groups, and his fingers were burning with the exertion of holding his entire weight. He had to have a dozen new bruises and he’d scraped half the skin off his cheek after one particularly bad moment.
Yet he felt like the king of the world.
Dani was standing over him, unwittingly giving him another distracting view, but made no effort to help him. Damn, she was in shape. He’d bet she was hardly winded, even though they’d been climbing pretty steadily for at least forty-five minutes. She wound the rope, pulling up the slack and looking at him as though his arrival was a normal part of her world.
“Why did you come here?” she asked as he started to pull himself up. Her leg was in his way. “Why?”
“I was invited,” he grunted, and searched for another way onto the ledge. She blocked his path.
“You were invited because David thought you were my boyfriend,” she said quietly, unmoving. “Why did you come?”
Luke looked up at her, past the long, slender leg to the hard look in her eyes. “You’re actually going to let me fall if I don’t answer you right now? Really?”
Dani stood still for a moment, and for a moment Luke thought she was going to say “yes”. His legs trembled from the strain of holding the awkward position against the rock face, and he realized she either had to give way or he was going back down. The hard way.
She gave him a look, but moved away then and began threading the safety rope through a piton, tossing the rope back to her brother. Luke fought his way over the edge, and took one knee at the edge of the cliff to catch his breath.
“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked, reaching into his pack for a water bottle.
Dani turned. “Why wouldn’t you what?”
“Why wouldn’t I want to come along? It’s a beautiful day. It’s a way to suck up. That’s what you’re accusing me of anyway, right?” His eyes met hers, his gaze every bit as hard. “What other reason would I have?”
She glared at him.
“On the other hand, I could tell you that I found a beautiful and fascinating woman, and I wanted to be with her. But you wouldn’t believe that, so why bother?”
“That’s a load of…”
“See?” Luke spread his arms. “If you’re not going to believe the answer, don’t ask the question. Make up what you want to hear.” With that he turned his back on her, settling at the edge of the cliff to drink from his bottle of water and watch the progress below. Thankfully with a great deal less vertigo now that he was on solid ground.
There was a great deal of cursing about halfway up the rock. Sam seemed to be struggling with the climb. David was shouting encouragement but Sam wasn’t experienced, Luke could see that. Once he realized that Sam was practically being hauled up the cliff by Linda, he smiled despite himself.
“You don’t like David,” Dani said, coming to sit next to him. It wasn’t a question.
“I don’t know David.”
“No, you don’t. You don’t know me either.” She cleared her throat, and he resisted the urge to offer her his water. “Just because we… exercised, don’t think we’re married. You were just convenient.”
“May you always find me so.” Luke smiled, and watched as Sam slid down three feet before the safety caught him, Linda giving him a hearty dose of ‘I told you so’ all the way down.
“You climb well enough,” Dani said after a minute.
“A compliment?”
She leveled a glare at him. “An observation.”
“You beat my time,” he observed.
“Good observation.” She half-smiled.
“Take it as a compliment,” he answered, and her face broke into a grin.
“Why don’t you go spot Katie,” Dani said, nodding the girl who was struggling at the top of the cliff on another rope. “I’ll help out Prince Charming here. It looks like Linda has her hands full.”
“Good,” Luke said. “I was about to cut his rope.”
He caught Dani trying to hide a small smile. He walked along the edge of the precipice, noting how the entire thing was a mammoth rock the size of a comfortable four-bedroom house. He could walk the edge with reasonable certainty that it wouldn’t crumble under his weight. That, of course, didn’t guarantee he wouldn’t trip and go skidding down all on his own.
Damn, he hated heights.
He reached Katie as she was trying once more to swing her leg over the edge. He caught her ankle and braced her as she slid her hips over the top and rolled. She sat up, surprisingly sliding away from Luke rather quickly, refusing further assistance.
“Thank… Thank you, Mr. Milligan,” she said rather stiffly, and pulled her feet under her. She stood, slowly and without breaking eye contact with him. She cleared her throat and nodded briefly, walking as far from the edge as she could over to where Dani was currently giving a hand to Sam. Linda was on Katie’s rope, and making good time now that she wasn’t stopping to give instructions to a novice every inch of the way.
In the meantime, Sam was hanging from the cord and laughing. Luke joined Dani as she yelled for the second time, “GIVE ME YOUR HAND!” Sam attempted to applaud and about fell off the mountain. Luke understood then why Sam had been so unreasonable in the car and why he’d been distant. He was high as a kite. Dani threw her hands up in disgust.
Luke tapped her on the shoulder and motioned for her to step back. She looked at him and shrugged, and allowed him to take her place. He knelt on one knee and held out a closed fist. “DUDE!” he yelled. When Sam reached to return the fist-bump, Luke caught the other man’s hand and bodily hauled the man up the rest of the way. David was on the lower ledge, laughing so hard, making Luke wonder how he’d been able to climb that far.
As it turned out, David wasn’t as agile as his sister. He wasn’t as good as Luke for that matter, but he was far and away better than the others. He made it up to the top easily and by himself, and the group of them sat for a bit to admire the view over power bars. David reached into his backpack and pulled out a six-pack of bee
r and offered them around. Katie and Linda refused. Sam brushed it off with a sour look directed at Luke, still pouting because he’d been made to look like a fool.
I didn’t make him look the fool, I just pointed it out. Luke shook his head. If this was the example of the kind of guy David hung out with, then Dani’s baby brother wasn’t as pedestal-perfect as she thought he was.
“Is there a different way down?” Katie asked hesitantly, eyeing the fast-disappearing beer, her face screwed up in distaste. “I…”
“Yeah,” Dani said. “There’s a trail back there.” She pointed to the trees behind them. “It takes you back but it does get steep and slippery at some points.”
Katie looked in that direction and seemed to shrink even more. Luke hadn’t believed it possible. Something’s got that girl spooked. Something more than not wanting to be on the same rope as a drunken former frat boy.
“Tell you what,” Dani said, with a quick look at Luke that gave him the idea she’d come to the same conclusions. “I’m usually the one who stays topside to gather the ropes and clean up. Wait around with me and him,” she thumbed at Luke, “and we’ll walk you back down. Deal?”
Katie looked like she would rather it was an all-girls hike, but she smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”
“Hey, guys!” Dani shouted. “Let’s get going before we lose light and you have to fall off in the dark!”
Lose light? How long had they been climbing? Luke checked his watch. It had been after lunch when they started, mainly because David hadn’t been able to wake up before then.
Despite some good-natured moans, everyone rose and put the empty cans back in their backpacks, cleaning up their area. Luke was surprised at that, figuring the privileged class and a stoner wouldn’t be so ecologically-minded. Dani must have read his thoughts.
“We’ve been coming here since we were kids,” she said as the rest stretched and headed for the ropes. “We maintain this rock. Keep it clean. Keep it pure.”
“Pure?”
“My dad doesn’t know about this place. That makes it sacred.”
Chapter Ten
Luke thought going down the rock would be more challenging, therefore more fun than going up. It’s one thing to find handholds by sight, but when you’re going down the toes need to find the next perch, then the fingers. It was the descent that always thrilled him.
David and Sam apparently had their own version of fun, pulling four rappelling harnesses out of Sam’s bag. One was replaced when Katie adamantly refused to join them.
“It’s freakin’ awesome!” Sam crowed. “You jump backward into the air and fall!” Katie looked at him as though he was on drugs. Which he was. Luke wondered if the seemingly innocent girl was as innocent as…well, she seemed. “Look, I’ll show you!” Sam ran to the edge of the cliff and stopped just short of falling to the shouts of “NO” from Dani, Katie, and Linda. Once again David proved himself friend of the year and thought it was hilarious.
They stopped messing around long enough to finish putting on the harnesses. Dani checked them thoroughly, making a slightly unnecessary and rapid adjustment to Sam’s, which had him squealing like a pig for a moment.
David, Sam, and Linda then stood on the edge, three figures against the afternoon sun, and dropped. David pushed off and caught himself twenty feet down, the perfect example of rappelling. Sam cried out “wheeeee” and spun mid-air, barely catching himself before turning head-first into the rock. Linda’s technique, though as technically arcuate as David’s, was less spectacular as she proceeded to calmly walk backward down the face, periodically glancing over at Sam and shaking her head with a certain amount of disgust before continuing.
Soon Luke and Dani and Katie were left collecting ropes and policing the area. When all was done to Dani’s satisfaction, they followed her to the path and began their own descent.
“Thank you for indulging me,” Katie said as they trudged along in companionable silence for a bit. “I’m sorry to be a third wheel.”
“You’re not,” Dani said, taking the girl’s hand.
Luke stayed behind them. The path grew narrow and steep, and either someone had mistaken a rain gully for a path or it had recently been washed out.
He couldn’t really hear their conversation. He’d planned it that way, thinking the younger girl might need to talk. Something was obviously on her mind. But his attention was drawn by a half-shouted, definitely indignant response of, “We’re not really a couple!”
Luke blinked a few times, and sped up a little in time to hear Katie’s response of, “But I thought…” which she clamped down on pretty fast with a look over her shoulder at the object of that particular sentence.
I thought it was the only reason he showed up at all. Luke finished for her in his head. He bit his tongue. Remember why you’re here. You’re not her boyfriend. Still, it rankled. David was the fair-haired god in Dani’s life, the eternal virgin who could walk on water, but Luke seriously did not like the boy. Dani didn’t even like Sam. Shouldn’t that should have been a flag of some kind?
“I’m not entirely sure why David thought to invite Luke,” Dani said, looking over her shoulder, and for the first time that day truly smiled at him, the kind of smile that reached her eyes. “But I’m kinda glad he did.”
It was unexpected. That wistful tone, that shy happiness. In that moment he became more than just ‘exercise,’ and was launched into a world of possibility.
And he wasn’t even who he said he was.
Certainly not Luke Milligan, financial analyst, trying to brown-nose his way into a fistful of cash. He’d been losing sight of that. Losing Luke McConnell, the special agent who’d been assigned to take down Edwin Rinehart, whatever it took. Up to and including dating Mr. Rinehart’s beautiful daughter.
Luke clenched his fists without realizing it. Thankfully the two women had moved ahead and had their heads together, giggling. For the first time since he’d met her, he saw Dani relaxed. Carefree. A young woman out with a friend and nothing more. No plots. No complications. Just a beautiful, intelligent, extremely fit, sexy, absolutely perfect woman.
I’m falling for her.
He stared at his hands, open now, spread almost helplessly as he trudged along. What had it been…five or six bad relationships in a row? Six. He’d finally sworn off the female species. Kept it casual. No ties. No commitments. It’s part of what had gotten him assigned to this job. Nicknamed ‘The Mountain’ for the way nothing could move him.
Except, somehow, she had.
The perfect woman.
And all he had to do was get in close enough to betray her.
I hate my job.
The women were waiting for him at the bottom of a fairly steep slope. He’d been standing who knows how long, staring into space without realizing it. Probably a good thing, given that he would have broken his neck trying to navigate that without looking.
“Is everything okay?” Dani called from the bottom, one hand holding back the hair that had blown out of her braid and was blowing in her face. He stared a long moment, lost in the sheer beauty of the moment, the golden light of late afternoon casting a halo around her.
“Fine. I’m coming—”
“YOU ASSHOLE! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”
David’s scream from further below prompted Luke to take the slope much quicker than expected. He half-skidded, half-slid, sending a trail of pebbles in all directions as he shot past Katie, who stared wide-eyed and pale without moving. Dani, he noticed, was almost airborne by the second word. She ran full out through loose rock, tangled roots, and gully washes. He started to follow her, but the memory of Katie’s face had him bouncing back.
“Hang on,” he said, using his best ‘I’m an agent, you can trust me’ voice. “I’ll be right back. Can you wait here?”
At her tentative nod he turned and jumped the small wash, and took after the retreating Dani as best he could. She left him easily, and by the time he arrived a
t the base of the hill he saw Linda over near the van, waving to him. Dani was long gone. He ran to Linda and saw the rest of them standing around the van, staring at the side. Deep into the paint of the van someone had carved words. Not keyed nor scratched. Carved. Knife, maybe. Screwdriver more likely.
BANG! YOU’RE DEAD
Dani was next to her brother, her arm around him like she’d save him from the world. He shook her off as Luke approached, scowling and already on his cell phone, stabbing at the screen as though the phone was personally responsible for what had happened.
Dani turned to him, heavy worry lines etched into her face. She was breathing hard, though he suspected it had more to do with fright than the rapid descent. “Katie?”
“I told her to stay put…”
But she hadn’t. He saw her coming down the slope regardless, a perfect target against the rock-strewn slope. Luke swore and ran back the way he’d come, wondering what would happen if he drew his weapon, whether it was needed, whether this was the moment to blow his cover.
Or whether he had the balls to hang tight and let this whole mess develop.
Stay outside of it. Do your job.
Katie looked up as he arrived, sweaty and panting, thinking that he really needed to quit blowing off time at the gym. “Let’s get you down with the rest,” he said, glancing uneasily at the trees around them, as though every last one concealed an enemy. “I shouldn’t have left you like that. I’m sorry.”
“For what?” She looked at him as though trying to puzzle him out.
“For running off on you there.” He motioned to the path she’d been on.
“Hey, I just didn’t want to jump off a cliff on a rope being held by a dru— someone I don’t know very well. That doesn’t mean I’m helpless!” It was the first real fire he’d seen in her, and despite the fact that it was directed at him he was glad to see some sort of reaction. She stalked past him to the little crowd that surrounded the vandalized car.
